There are 3 kinds of Chinese cleavers. Heavy cleavers are used for cutting thru bones and joints.
Lightweight cleavers are used for fancy food carving. Medium-weight cleavers, are used for everything else.
A medium-weight cleaver makes quick work out of slicing chicken, and slicing and mincing vegetables. Its broad
side makes a convenient surface for transporting chopped food into a pan or bowl.

A food processor may be faster, but a food mill is a great tool to have on hand. Use it for ricing
potatoes, for making applesauce and jelly, for turning cooked rice into a thickener for soups, or for
making homemade baby food. It is also less expensive than a food processor and it is easily taken apart
for cleaning.

The easiest and fastest way to pound cutlets of veal, chicken or turkey is with a tool specially made for the job :
a heavy disk-shaped pounder with a vertical handle. A meat pounder should not be confused with a meat tenderizer.

This ingenious gadget lets me take cooked potatoes or noodles, press them into a basket or nest
and then fry them. I can then put anything I want into them. This is great for winter dishes. My favorite
is frying the noodles and then putting in a Chicken sauce or stew.

A kitchen tool used to brown the top of foods. It consists of a long iron rod with a cast-iron disk
at one end and a wooden handle at the other. The disk is heated over a burner until red-hot before being
passed closely over food. In addition to quickly browning foods, salamanders are used for dishes (such as
Crème Brûlèe) that require that a surface layer of sugar be carmelized quickly so that the custard below
remains cold. Also, a salamander is a small broiler unit in a professional oven that quickly browns the tops
of dishes.

An expandable stainless-steel steamer is just the thing for vegetables. It's inexpensive, easy to use, and can be opened to fit most pan sizes.
A plastic version of the steamer is available for microwave use.